Jazz Beat #22 - Joey DeFrancesco

Joey DeFrancesco plays the Springfield Jazz and Roots Festival on Saturday, August 6th. Joey was still in his teens when he was hailed as a Young Lion and keyboard phenom who helped revive the Hammond organ&rsquo;s prominence in jazz in the late 1980s. He was renowned around Philadelphia when Miles Davis heard him on a Philly TV show in 1987, and the following year Davis featured the 17-year-old on a five-week tour of Europe. (See Joey D performing &ldquo;Tu Tu&rdquo; with Miles on the NEPR Jazz Blog: Miles Davis and the Young Philadelphians. ) Tom and Joey D touch on his work with Miles, his thoughtful reflections on the Miles Davis biopic &ldquo;Miles Ahead,&rdquo; the legacy of the Hammond B3 in his hometown, the foundational role of bebop in modern music, and spirituality in jazz.

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